The precocious puberty of children, both girls and boys, is of increasing concern. And for good reason, the scientific studies that have been accumulating on the subject for several years tend to associate the phenomenon with an increased risk of developing health problems in adulthood, from metabolic disorders to certain cancers.
Several French and Belgian specialists express themselves today in the columns of the World to denounce a “real epidemic”. Doctors and researchers explain it, several epidemiological studies confirm that the secondary sexual signs (hair, breasts, size of the testicles…) appear earlier and earlier.
The first major publication on the subject appeared in the journal Pediatrics in 2008, says Professor Charles Sultan, head of the pediatric endocrinology department at the Montpellier University Hospital. The authors then analyzed American data covering the period from 1940 to 1994.
And in France ? This is where the problem lies. While the international scientific community has been working on the subject for a good twenty years, there is almost no data on the situation in France. The National Institute for Health Monitoring (InVS) recently set up a “monitoring system”, explains Le Monde, “based on the reimbursement of drugs”, those prescribed to children to block the development of puberty signs. The InVS thus estimated that the number of cases would be 1,173 girls and 117 boys would be affected each year.
If scientists are sounding the alarm, it is because, according to them, this phenomenon is above all linked to the exposure of children, but also of parents, to harmful environmental factors. Among them, certain foods (especially sugars), and above all, the famous endocrine disruptors. Those present in many everyday consumer products (packaging, cosmetics, etc.), but also in pesticides.
As such, the children of farmer parents, chronically exposed to phytosanitary products, could be particularly concerned. Professor Sultan recounts the case of a 4-month-old girl who had “breasts the size of an orange”. Traces of pesticides were found in the body of the father, the mother and the baby.
First published: February 25, 2015